


Maybe Enough

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? (Fluffy Fraser Fics) [66]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Cousins, Encouragement, Sisters, daily living
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 05:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18653629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Claire, Jenny, and the children spend the day together and accomplish more than just some work in the garden.





	Maybe Enough

                                 

 

It was a lovely day to be outdoors. Maybe it was a bit too warm if you were working, which Claire and Jenny were about to do, but it beautiful nonetheless. The sky was a pure blue canopy unmarred by any clouds. It was gorgeous and they were taking advantage of that fact.

It had become a habit for them, Claire and Jenny along with their gaggle of children, to take time from their busy lives to catch up with one another. The women would bounce ideas off each other. Though both were fiercely independent, there was a delicate trust between them which allowed them to share and receive wisdom from one another in ways that might not have been possible with other people. And the children, they all adored playing together, as had been proven time and again, particularly since one of their first gatherings outdoors in late spring.

“How long will yer twins nap?” Jenny watched her own twins clamoring at the door with their cousins, all waiting to be set free to roam the wide grassy expanse around Lallybroch.

Each child had been slathered with sunblock even though Brianna had dramatically declared, with large tears running down her freckled cheeks, that she didn’t at all care for “slimed-up skin” and she wished they had the spray-on sunblock instead. Wee Jamie, not quite so wee anymore, had insisted that “ _men_ didn’t need sunblock” as he begged to go without. Both had been covered with the white stuff in spite of their protestations.

“Considering their cousins helped run them ragged already, I’d guess we have a solid hour and a half,” Claire crossed her fingers as she spoke. All of the children had played on the lawn that morning as Claire and Jenny pruned some bushes. There had been laughter and all had been included. Then the Murray twins had gotten hungry and cranky while the Fraser twins had gotten hungry, cranky, _and_ tired. After lunch the little ones had gone down for a nap. Usually Willa and Fergus were both good sleepers which nobody took for granted. “So let’s get started now!”

Jamie Murray opened the door and he and the flood of Murray and Fraser children spilled out onto the stoop, down the stairs, and into the yard. Jenny carried clippers and gardening gloves in a large basket and Claire followed last with a big bowl and the baby monitor to check in on the slumbering twins.

They were harvesting things from the massive garden that Claire had been cultivating for months now. Together they’d get more finished and then would begin canning some of what they gathered, saving it for later. Claire much preferred to work with Jenny on the whole long process as opposed to doing it on her own. The kinship with someone who understood her was something that ought not be underestimated either.

Jamie, Maggie, and Kat immediately began trying to corral the Murray twins (no longer interested in playing in a group) and Brianna (who was attempting to climb a rather spindly tree). Faith wandered off into her own corner of the garden to play. It seemed, as the previous visits had begun to establish, that all the children were beginning to fall into a routine. They’d all play together during the morning, but as the day wore on they fell into smaller groups with the youngest Murrays and Frasers often napping and Faith tending to seek solitude.

Jenny and Claire ignored the unnecessary chaos the children were creating and set to work.

“Think of it,” Jenny paused dramatically. “By next year yer twins will have joined the mayhem. They’ll be skipping their nap whenever somethin’ more interesting comes along and shortly thereafter everyone around them will be regretting the loss of naps!” She laughed and though Claire joined in, she remembered when the older girls had grown out of their need for naps...or had stopped taking them _before_ entirely outgrowing the need.

“But you’ll have another one by then and that one will be napping. Are you ever going to tell us whether it’s a boy or girl? The anticipation is killing me!” Claire wheedled, attempting to get an answer.

“Ye ken I’m not tellin’,” Jenny retorted. “Better they nap than behave the way those two are right now,” she nodded off in the direction of Michael and Ellen Janet, their little Ellie, as they terrorized their older siblings and cousins.

“I’m so glad that I missed some of that phase with Faith and Bree when I was working. The vague memories of them growing out of naps or refusing to take them and being unruly,” she sighed and a handful of produce came off the plant before her and tumbled into the giant bowl.

They worked in companionable silence for a while before Bree came flying toward them at high speed (her _only_ speed).

“By dose. By dose is rudding!” she hollered, stopping before Claire and scrunching her face in a dramatic array of expressions.

“Blow,” sighed her mama, holding a tissue out.

Just as quickly as that, Bree was gone and the women continued.

“Do any of yours ever have seasonal allergies, Jenny?” she watched Brianna’s retreating form, pondering the potential issue of allergies.

The brown-haired woman turned and raised her eyebrows. “Ye dinna remember Wee Jamie’s allergies before we got them under control?”

“I didn’t know he had any,” Claire said in something that neared wonderment. “We’ve been wondering what we ought to do for Bree. Her doctor seemed to think it wasn’t a concern, but her nose runs like a leaky tap, she sneezes constantly, and she often wakes up with a sore throat due to drainage. The pediatrician might not find it concerning, but as her mother, _I_ most definitely do.”

“What does Jamie say?”

“He says that I know best. That I probably know exactly what she needs,” Claire replied a bit tentatively.

“Yer not normally a close-mouthed woman, Claire,” Jenny said cautiously. “Why have ye not been more assertive about this then?”

“Because I wouldn’t want my expertise criticized if I were a doctor,” she said simply.

“And?” Jenny pushed.

“Maybe because there are still times when I feel like ‘being a mother’ isn’t qualification enough to question something like that?” Her voice fell softly as she explained.

“Weel,” she replied thoughtfully, biting her lower lip as she thought before speaking. “ _I_ think you are the most qualified person to bring these issues to light. Ye ken yer children better than anyone, Claire. Ye may not always _feel_ confident or even competent, but you are their voice right now, until they learn to have a voice of their own.”

Both mothers paused in their work, sitting back on their heels, and watched the children.

“I ken ye lost yer mother when you were young, Claire. And me, I lost mine long before I should have as well. But anyone can tell that these children have just who they need.”

“And you and I have one another,” Claire added. “To remind each other that we’re strong enough to do this well.”

 


End file.
